Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Delphinium belladona cultivar Delft Blue.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Delphinium plant, botanically known as Delphinium belladona, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Delft Bluexe2x80x99.
The new Delphinium was discovered by the Inventor in 1999 in a controlled environment in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, as a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Delphinium belladona cultivar Volkerfrieden, not patented. The new Delphinium was selected by the Inventor on the basis of its unique blue and light blue bi-colored flowers.
Asexual reproduction of the new Delphinium by cuttings in a controlled environment in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, since 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Delphinium are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Delft Blue have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Delft Bluexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Delft Bluexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Freely flowering habit.
3. Blue and light blue bi-colored flowers.
Plants of the cultivar Delft Blue differ from the parent cultivar, Volkerfrieden and other Delphinium cultivars known to the Inventor in its unique flower coloration.